Trying to implement a timer

programming flash
1

I have a search field that searches on key press…so you type b and it will automatically return all the words that start with b…if you type ba it will return all the words that start with ba…and so on and so forth…what I want to do is put a delay of one or two seconds before the search actually starts after the user STOPS typing…because with large lists I am experiencing lag…so I want the search to start once the person stops typing…here is what I have…


keyListener.onKeyUp = function() 
{
    clearInterval(counter);
    if(showLoad)
    {
        trace("....1");
        var seconds = 2;
        function Timer() 
        {
            trace("....2");
            seconds -= 1;
            trace(seconds);
            if (seconds==0) 
            {
                trace("....3");
                if(Key.getCode() != 38 && Key.getCode() != 40)
                {
                    trace("....4");
                                        //perform search function....
                }
            }
        }
        counter = setInterval(Timer, 1000);
    }
}

the output trace is only the first one “…1”

Any ideas?